Figure 2.

DR inhibits 5-FU-induced intestinal inflammation.

Young mice (2-month-old) and old mice (20–24-month-old) were exposed to AL diet or DR for 14 days before intraperitoneal 5-FU injection which was daily performed for 5 days (day -4–day 0), and the diet regimen was continued afterward. For the control group, saline was injected instead of 5-FU. Mice were sacrificed at certain timepoints and small intestinal tissue was collected for further analysis.

(A,B) Representative photos of mice from indicated groups. Note that the intestines of AL mice exposed to 5-FU were covered with mucus and exhibited significant edema, multiple erosions, and hardly visible formed stools, while the intestines of DR mice treated with 5-FU looked similar to saline treated control mice with no visible damage in the intestinal wall and lots of formed stools (arrows).

(C,D) Bowen scoring system determined diarrhea score indexes from indicated groups (n = 30 mice per group. Data combined from three independent experiments).

(E-J) Relative expression of indicated genes in duodenum, jejunum, and ileum tissues collected on day 3 after 5-FU treatment by qRT-PCR (n = 5 mice per group randomly picked from 2 independent experiments).

(C,D) Unpaired two-tailed, Student’s t test; (E-J) One-way ANOVA test. Results were displayed as mean±SD. *p < .05; **p < .01;***p < .001; ****p < .0001; ns, not significant.